Migration from this Caribbean nation has reached record levels, with nearly 600,000 people forced to flee their homes this year, double the number from last year, making Haiti the country with the highest number of migrants due to violence.
Support from NGO TOYA
Both Louis and Chantal* received support from TOYA, a Haitian NGO, a partner of the Inter-American Health Organization (PAHO), a regional office for the World Health Organization (WHO).
© UNICEF/Ralph Teddy Errol
In Port-au-Prince, gang-related violence continues to force people to flee their homes.
Louise, 47, is a single mother of five children. Currently, only one of her children, aged 11, is with her, while the other four are scattered in different parts of the country. “We were chased by the bandits, and they burned our houses,” she recalls in testimony collected by PAHO officials.
Her mother recently died from hypertension and the stress of repeated forced migration. “My mother was forced to move twice in a short period of time,” she laments.
‘I took a big step in my life’
Chantal, 56 and a single mother of six children, is going through the same pain as Louise. Her house also burned down. “The bandits raped me and my daughter. As a result, I became infected with HIV. They beat me and I lost four teeth. My children’s father can no longer take care of them. I am poor now. I took a big step in my life and I don’t know how to recover,” she explains.
© UNOCHA/Giles Clark
A funeral procession passes through the grand cemetery in downtown Port-au-Prince.
“The anxiety took everything away from me. I was half crazy. After the incident, I even thought about committing suicide by drinking bleach,” she testified.
Louise had been at other refugee sites before arriving at Carl Brouard Square in Port-au-Prince. During this time, her TOYA Foundation helped her by providing a kit containing the essential items she needed to start her small business and her own funds.
But this respite did not last long. One day, “thieves” invaded the place in Carl Broward Square, and she lost everything again. “I couldn’t take anything with me during the attack, not my business, my belongings,” she says.
Anxiety took everything from me. I was half crazy. After the incident, I even thought about committing suicide by drinking bleach.
— Chantal
Chantal visited the TOYA Foundation where she received psychosocial support, educational sessions and funding.
‘Life is not over’
“During the training sessions, the TOYA psychologists taught me what life is and what it means. They showed me that life is not over, that I can be who I want to be, and that I am still worth it. I received a lot of support from everyone at TOYA,” she emphasizes.
She now lives with relatives and some of her children, some of whom live in the province, including her teenage daughter who was raped with her.
“Thank God she does not have HIV. But she has suffered trauma since then. She doesn’t want to go back to Port-au-Prince. She was scheduled to graduate this year, but this incident made her put everything on hold,” Chantal recalls.
She says she faced a lot of discrimination from her family because of her HIV-positive status. “They think I can infect them because I live under the same roof.” She says she continues to take her medication without problems.
Despite these difficult circumstances, she focuses on her life and how to make money to send to her children who are scattered around the country.
‘I want to see my children grow up’
Louise is currently unable to receive support because she lost her business, her only source of income.
“All I want is to live in peace,” she says. “Life on the ground is really hard. The classroom where we sleep floods every time it rains. We have to wait until the rain stops to clean up and find a small space to rest and sleep.”
It has been a long time since Louise was able to visit some of the children she sent to the province. “We can’t go there because of the high cost of living and the thieves who rob passengers on the road,” she explains. “I’m tired of hearing gunshots and having to run away. We are always in danger of being attacked.”
In this difficult situation, Lewis’ biggest goal is “to survive.”
“All I want to do is live,” Chantal repeated. She still suffers from high blood pressure, “because the stress of the situation in Haiti is just unbearable.”
“But I still have to do my job. I have mouths to feed. I want to see my kids grow up. I want to see them succeed in life,” she says.
*Names have been changed to protect identity.
